‘Die Kotoba Potpourri Fragante’, an Inter-School Foreign Language Fest was held at Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram on 4th February 2017 to inculcate love for foreign languages in students. Students of Classes VI to X, from 21 schools across the city, participated in the various competitive events held in the French, German, Japanese and Spanish languages.
The fest comprised eight events, two for each language. In French, ‘Enact a Fable’ and ‘Role Play’ were held. Students of Japanese competed in ‘Fancy Dress ‘and ‘Just-a-Minute’ contest. ’Ad Zap’ and ‘Show and Tell’ were held in Spanish. ‘A Character Portrayal’ and ‘TV Show’ were held in German.
Ms. Marisol Perez Carranza, Deputy Chief of the Mission, Embassy of Chile; Mme Marie Doublier, Attaché for Cooperation in Education; Mr. Kousuke Noguchi, Director, Japanese Language and Japanese Studies/Intellectual Exchange; and Mrs. Shaswati Mazumdar, Professor, Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, Delhi University were the chief guests for Spanish, French, Japanese and German categories respectively.
The panel of judges for the French events included Ms. Swati Dasgupta, Faculty of French at the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, Delhi University; Ms. Babusha Verma, Professor, French Language and Literature at Delhi University; Ms. Shilpa Gupta, Assistant Professor at O.P. Jindal University and Ms. Pooja Arora, Assistant Professor at Amity University. The German judges were Ms.Manisha Buttan and Ms.Sakshi Puri, Assistant Professors at Amity University, Noida; Ms.Chanchal Bhatia and Ms.Shivani Gupta, German teachers at Max Mueller Bhavan. Mr.Carlos Valmaseda, Library Head, Instituto Cervantes and Ms.Mabel Perez Carranza, Professor, Instituto Cervantes were the judges for the Spanish events. Ms. Ayumi Morris, Visiting Lecturer and Mr. Masaaki Tachiki, Volunteer JICA presently associated with the Department of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Social Science, University of Delhi judged the Japanese events. Present on the occasion were the Principal, Ms. Vanita Sehgal and the Vice Principal, Ms. Anita Singh who was incharge of the programme. Also present were the programme coordinators, Mrs. Nita Vijay Kumar, Mrs.Surbhi Gaur, Mrs Payal Arora and Ms Arushi Manchanda.
The valedictory function commenced with the felicitation of the chief guests by the Principal, Ms. Vanita Sehgal. It was followed by a mesmerizing fusion dance. A report on the events that took place during the day was displayed. The Principal, Ms Sehgal addressed the gathering. She expressed her view that every language one knows adds to the knowledge of the individual and broadens one’s horizon. In her words, “this event is a way of bringing all the cultures and students together.” The winning entries of few events performed their acts which were greatly appreciated by everyone. A beautiful and melodious German song was sung by the school’s choir. The chief guests then expressed their views on the event. Ms. Marisol Perez Carranza found it, “wonderful to see children learning another language”. According to Ms. Marie Doublier, “learning other languages is necessary so that there is global harmony.” Mr. Kousuke Noguchi thought of the event as an attempt to, “bring all the languages and schools together.” The school’s French Club released its annual magazine, ‘Le Crayon d’Or’.
The French event, ‘Enact a Fable’ was won by DPS R.K. Puram while DPS Noida came second followed by DPS Rohini. The Role Play was won by DPS R.K. Puram. DPS Vasant Kunj and DPS Rohini were the first and second runners-up respectively. The overall winners in the French category was DPS Rohini.
DPS Maruti Kunj bagged the first position in ‘Character Portrayal’ while Ahlcon International came second. DPS Rohini came third. The ‘TV Show’ saw Bal Bharti Public School bagging the first position. The first and second runners-up were DPS Vasant Kunj and Ahlcon International respectively. In the German category, the overall winners were Ahlcon International.
The ‘Fancy Dress’ winner was DPS R.K. Puram while DPS Maruti Kunj and Salwan Public School came second and third respectively. In ‘Just a Minute’, DPS R.K. Puram came first. Salwan Public School and Meenakshi Public School were the first and second runners-up. The overall winner in the Japanese category was Salwan Public School.
The ‘Show and Tell’ was won by DPS R.K. Puram. G.D. Goenka came second while DPS International, Saket came third. The Ad Zap saw DPS Noida defeating everyone while DPS International, Saket and G.D. Goenka came second and third respectively. The overall winners in the Spanish category was DPS International, Saket.
The Vice Principal, Ms. Anita Singh delivered the vote of thanks. She thanked the chief guests and the judges for their valuable time. She congratulated the winners and the participants and also told them that, “winning isn’t everything and participation is what matters the most.” The event concluded with the national anthem.
The event was a great attempt in bringing students speaking different languages on a single platform and giving them an opportunity to showcase their talents.
